The vast majority of asylum-seeking migrants arriving on the Spanish island of Mallorca are regularly committing crimes and it is impossible to deport them, the long-serving chief inspector of the National Police’s immigration brigade has claimed.
José María Manso, who is soon retiring after serving in Spain’s National Police for the last 44 years, exposed the reality of the migration crisis affecting the Balearic island where he has been stationed since 1991.
In an interview with Ultima Hora published on Sunday, the esteemed chief inspector lamented the demise of the Spanish archipelago and the damage being inflicted by illegal immigration.
“Now, on a daily basis, it is the problem of the boats that come from Algeria and everything that surrounds those who arrive and stay. It is a big problem that involves the entire leadership,” Manso told the publication.
“There is an increasingly larger trickle of people staying in Mallorca irregularly. The vast majority who stay here are committing crimes and are very repeat offenders in their actions. Without any problem, they can commit up to 30 crimes in a short time,” he added.
Manso explained that many illegal migrants would begin with petty crimes that rarely warrant a custodial sentence in Spain.
“They start with minor crimes like theft and no one goes to prison for this. Robberies with violence should go, but they are difficult to prove.”
He discussed the migratory route from Algeria to the Balearic Islands, which “was created some time ago,” but warned that “half of Africa” now has boats leaving its shores to reach Mallorca. “Much of the sub-Saharan part of the continent has also opened routes to the Island, but also Morocco and the Arab countries.”
Manso expressed his dismay that a breakdown in relations between Algeria and Spain has resulted in it being “absolutely impossible to expel an Algerian from the country.”
When asked what the solution was to tackle the migrant crisis, Manso insisted that a pan-European response was needed to “return every boat” to its country of origin and to “impose economic consequences” on countries of origin refusing to comply.
